Bloomfield Schools recognized for student exchange partnership

Bloomfield School District has welcomed 13 foreign exchange students since becoming involved with the International Student Exchange organization in Indiana.

Jennifer Miller, regional manager for the organization, spoke before the school board of trustees at their May meeting.

“My purpose here is to thank Bloomfield High School and your school district for allowing our students into Bloomfield High School,” Miller said.

Exchange students are given the ability to experience public schools in the U.S. on a two-semester J-1 Visa, living with host families who open their homes to these students on a completely volunteer basis.

She noted that as a smaller school district, Bloomfield also provides “an incredible opportunity for our exchange students.”

“Our students who have been here have truly been welcomed by the community, and when they go back home, they just continue to talk about the American culture, the American way of life, the people -- and they serve as ambassadors when they return to their home countries,” she said.

She also had other business at the meeting. Each year, she explained, ISE chooses 40-45 high schools of all their partner schools in the country to recognize as partner schools.

“This year, Bloomfield High School has been represented to be among those schools,” Miller said.

She revealed a plaque from ISE which, on engraved plates, listed the names of all the exchange students who have walked BHS’s halls since 2010. Blank plates were also included so that more names could be added in the coming years. Once all the space is filled, BHS will receive an additional plaque.

“Thank you for finding these opportunities for exchange students, because as much as it as for our foreign exchange students, it is also a good experience for our kids and our community,” Superintendent Jeff Gibboney said.

Mike Therber, of the Indianapolis-based financial advising firm Therber and Brock, was invited to speak to the board about funding possibilities for capital projects.

These include flooring in the Elementary school as well as roof repairs.

“We want to look at what kind of impact that would have on our school district so we can plan ahead and not have to rush into making a decision,” said Superintendent Jeff Gibboney.

Therber explained that the general obligation bond issue funds would be capped at around $1.3 million. However, as the district did in 2014 for earlier projects, they can utilize a lease rental that would be legally issued by a building corporation and not the school corporation.

“It leases the facilities that have been worked on back to the school corporation and then they make payments to the building corporation to pay on that debt,” Therber explained.

This arrangement would raise the funding cap from $1.3 million to a little over $5 million. Anything under $5 million would be considered a “non-controlled project” and would not require a petition-remonstrance or referendum, as a controlled project would.

If $5 million doesn’t cover the school’s capital project needs, an additional non-controlled project could be created.

He provided examples of payments for a $3 million, a $4 million and a $5 million piece of debt. The examples included a payment schedule that would be structured to mirror what the school district is currently paying on their 2014 bonds. By utilizing the capitalized interest structure, interest payments could be made not from the tax money, but from the bond proceeds themselves.

“If you were to put the debt in place in Spring 2020, it would be the end of 2021 before you would make any payments on the debt,” Therber explained. This would be help them to avoid a jump in the debt service tax rate.

However, Gibboney emphasized that the issuance of any debt was still a ways off and for now, they are getting a head start on exploring options.

“We’re not talking about a lot of bells and whistles—we’re talking about essential items,” Gibboney said. “I don’t want to raise our tax rate on our payers, but we do have an obligation to have buildings that are safe and secure for our students. Unfortunately, our operating fund alone cannot allow us to make the changes we need.

Gibboney said school officials will continue the conversation through the fall to determine the best route. Public meetings and meetings needed to establish the building corporation, alone, would take around six months.

“But again, we’re looking at a non-controlled project. We don’t want a referendum, we don’t want a petition-remonstrance and we definitely don’t want to raise our tax rates,” Gibboney said.

Other business:

*Bloomfield Elementary Principal Matt Britton thanked Alan Toon and Kathy Neill for their years of service to the school.

*Britton also thanked everyone involved in the memorial sculpture for Suzy Schulte. “I thought what meant the most to the Schulte family was that the kids put the finishing touches on it. Each kid got to leave their mark.”

*Bloomfield Jr-Sr High School won the golden shoe award after the Walk A Mile in Their Shoes from participation from school.

*After 48 years of service to Bloomfield Schools, Ron McBride will be retiring from his positions as Athletic Director and Dean of Students and Boys’ Basketball Coach.

“We want to thank him for all his years of service and dedication to the students and community of Bloomfield,” Dean wrote. “He is one of a kind and will be missed.” In his retirement letter, McBride thanked Bloomfield School officials for the opportunity.

“I have truly enjoyed being a teacher, coach and dean of students, which allowed me to be associated with the outstanding administrators, faculty and young people of this community,” McBride wrote.

*High School Principal David Dean reported that graduation festivities went well and this year’s senior class earned more than $530,000 in scholarships with possibly more coming in. He also mentioned that students working to recover their credits through Bloomfield Academy accrued more than 100 credits this past year. That was instrumental in helping seven students to graduate early and get a head start on their futures.

* BHS also received full accreditation as an early college high school, a several-years-long process.

*The board voted to accept $3,300 in donations. $3,150 in donations will go to help Bloomfield’s NJROTC program after American Legion Post 196 donated $2,000; Linton Elks donated $500, MOAA donated $150 and Linda Mattox donated $500 via the Walt Mattox Scholarship. Bloomfield Unified Track received a donation of $150 from the Bashaw-Roth America Legion Post 106.

*Marie Hasler secured a $5,000 No Kids Hungry grant. This money will allow a mobile breakfast cart to serve “second chance breakfasts” to the students, a project Hasler piloted last winter.

*The school board voted to accept meal prices for the 2019-2020 school year. The only change will be a 10 cent increase for K-5 lunches in accordance with Department of Education guidelines.

The Bloomfield School District Board of Trustees will next meet June 27 and July 31 at 7 p.m. in the Superintendent’s Boardroom. The July meeting was rescheduled from July 25 to July 31 due to scheduling conflicts.